Angelika Hießerich-Peter, state chairwoman of the FDP Saar, sharply criticizes the plans of Federal Family Minister Karin Prien.
Federal Minister for Family Affairs Karin Prien wants to discontinue the advance maintenance payment from the child's 16th birthday in the future. So far, it has been valid until the age of majority. The FDP Saar firmly rejects this step.
„This is scandalous. Single parents are being punished again here – for a failure they are not responsible for,” explains Hießerich-Peter. „It’s about the subsistence minimum for children. Especially in the years between 12 and 18, the costs for school, mobility, and leisure increase noticeably. It is precisely during this phase that the minister wants to cut the aid.”
The FDP state chairwoman recalls that the last federal government with FDP participation had already made efforts to hold delinquent parents more accountable. “This approach should have been intensified. Instead, Minister Prien fails to do exactly that – and instead cuts funding for the children.”
Hießerich-Peter points to Argentina as an example of what consistent enforcement can look like: There, fathers who do not pay child support lose access to football stadiums – a measure that spans provinces and specifically targets the payment behavior of delinquent parents instead of cutting costs at the children’s expense. “You don’t have to adopt this model one-to-one. But it shows: A constitutional state has levers to hold payers accountable. Germany does not use these levers consistently enough.”
“The premise must be clear: First, the state exhausts all options to hold delinquent parents accountable. Only then – and only then – may the design of advance maintenance payments be discussed. Not the other way around.”
Single parents are already under enormous pressure, according to Hießerich-Peter. Many cannot work full-time for family reasons. "This group finds it particularly difficult to support themselves and their children alone. The state must not shirk its responsibility here. The children's right to maintenance must be enforced – if necessary with all due severity against those who could pay and do not."
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